Fireworks In Florida
by Robbiejones
Summary: My thoughts of what the holiday should have been...
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey so thought I have had this idea in my head for a while so figured it was about time i tried to write it down :) Please review and let me know if its something I should continue with, also will be updating my other story this week, hopefully :)**_

Ste's Pov

"Stephen, For god sake how many cases are ya bringing, were only going for a week" I hear him shout from the small living room of my flat.

" I have to be prepared Bren, Anyway most of it belongs to the kids " I shout back still busy packing my own suitcase .

I cant really believe that this is actually happening and I guess in some ways im stalling, Waiting for Brendan to freak out and say that hes changed his mind and hes not coming to florida with me and the kids anymore. I zip up my case and drag it into the small living room. When I see him I cant help but thing how absolutely gorgeous he looks, finally wearing something that isnt a suit. The casual look really suits him, but I guess he looks good in pretty much everything.

" We all set now?"

" Yeah Declan took the kids out to strap them into the car so ill just throw that in the boot and were ready to go "

" You sure your ready for this Bren" I ask walking close to him and wrapping my arms around his waist. I can feel him tense up and look around to ensure that Declan cant see but then he relax's.

"Yeah, Gotta do it sometime"

He had promised me that he would tell Declan that me and him were more than just mates as soon as we landed in Florida but a small part of me thinks that it will never happen. I guess ill just have to wait and see.

" It'll be fine, Bren. I promise you"

He just grunted in response so I leaned up and kissed him. It soon became very passionate as we both got lost in the moment, but after about 20 seconds Brendan pulled away and looked down smiling at me

" Come on lets get going, or were gunna miss that plane and have 3 very upset kiddies on our hands"

Declans POV

Did that just happen. Did I really see what I think I just saw. My dad and his " mate" Ste. All loved up and kissing and talking about telling me my dad is GAY. I now sat quietly in the car with Ste's two kids sitting either side of me both gone fast asleep as it was pretty early and they should probably still be in bed. I watched my dad and ste as they came out of the flat, dad dragging one of Ste's many suitcases out to the car for him. It looked like Ste was talking a mile a minute while Dad just smiled contentedly.

They both sat in the front of the car and Ste thanked me for looking after the kids while he was busy " packing". I felt like saying making out with my dad more like, but couldnt bring myself to actually bring i up. So I decided that I would observe. See how they behaved around each other. Try get a sense of whether this boy would be what would make my Dad happy. I never really remember seeing him truly happy. Sure he was a great dad and would always take great joy in looking after me and Paraic but the more I thought about it he always seemed greatly unhappy. I had always assumed thats the reason he cheated on my mum so many times, and eventually left us to live in England and make a whole new life for himself.

It was a rather silent car journey to the airport. I knew why I was quiet so I only assumed Dad and ste were being careful not to wake the kids. When we arrived at the airport myself, Ste and the kids got out of the car and took the cases while Dad went to park his car. I pushed the trolly with all the cases on while Ste held one child in each arm and we set off to find the check in desk.

" So ya looking forward to Florida Declan " He asked me.

I found myself a bit unsure of what to reply. I was no longer ridiculously excited about Disneyland, Now I was just plain curious as to how the whole holiday would pan out.

" Yeah course, I've always wanted to go there. Used to bug Dad about bringing me all the time when I was younger."

Ste just laughed at that and then said " I bet your little brother will be ragin he missed this."

I had to agree, Paraic would be well jealous that I got to go to Disneyland with Dad, but thats what he gets for wanting to stay back in Ireland just so he could hang out with his little friends for the summer.

After some more small talk my dad eventually rejoined us and we all checked in and got our boarding passes. By the time we got through to the duty free shopping area of the airport Ste's kids were fully awake and incredibly excited about their first time on a plane and Disneyland. And they let everyone know about it, running around the shops screaming at the top of their lungs about seeing Mickey Mouse. Me being a teenager was far too cool to do such a thing, but i have to admit, despite recent revelations, I was incredibly excited for disneyland. It had always been a childhood dream, but i guess Dad was always to busy "working". Well I guess i know what he was really up to now i thought to myself.

I distanced myself slightly from our little group given the bad looks Ste and his kids were getting from the disgruntled passengers who obviously thought it was far too early for such carry on. I took this as a perfect opportunity to observe my dad and ste to try and figure out just how serious things were between them.

While watching I began to realise that infact they did not come across as a couple at all, good mates at most but that was it. They didnt touch, they didnt kiss or hold hands, and as far as I could see they didnt really do much talking. It was all about looks i quickly realised. Every few seconds either my dad or ste would look at the other and almost like a reflex the other would in turn look. This was usually followed by a small, almost shy smile between the two of them before they went back to rangling up the kids.

After a few moments my Dad eventually caught Lucas in his arms and got him to calm down by promising to buy him loads of sweets for the plane.

Ste tutted at this muttering " Ye, that'll make the other passengers love us even more"

" Who cares what they think Stephen" Dad replied rather dicrectly, and for once i think i understood the double meaning.

And so Lucas became completely attatched to my Dad wrapping his arms right around his neck and telling him how he wanted to get a picture with "Bwendan and me and woody" from toy story.

" What about your Da little man? Dont ya want a picture with him? "

" Ye, me you and Daddy " came his little excited reply.

Eventually the time came for us to board our plane and the kids once again hit the roof. Ste carried Leah in his arms while Dad still held Lucas in his, looking slightly like he was regretting the amount of sweets he had bought for the two kids. Personally I didnt mind but seen as they had their hands full I was left to carry all the shopping bags and carry on luggage.

We got a few annoyed looks as we boarded the plane, and quite a few curious ones. I guess we did look like quite the odd group of people to be going on a family holiday to Disneyland. I wondered if other people assumed Dad and Ste were gay together and if we were their kids, although I couldnt be Ste's Kid. Unless he had me when he was like 8 or something. I think my Dad noticed a few of the looks too. The smile on his face was gone and it looked like he wanted only one thing, to get to his seat and out of the line of sight of a plane full of passengers.

We all got to our seats and it went me sitting beside the window; Lucas at his insistence beside me with Dad on his other side and then Ste and Leah sitting on the row across from us. Dad reached out and squeezed my shoulder, guess it still showed that I was rater " Uncomfortable " flying.

" Ya'll be alright son "

" Yeah I know, thanks Dad. "

" I love you Deccy, hope you always now that, no matter what happens "

" Shut up" I replied smiling at him, but was actually really glad to hear him say it.

The flight was actually rather uneventful, after the initial excitement of take off the kids soon calmed down, Lucas became completely engrossed in the movie they were playing after Dad had bought him a headset for the tv. I played my DS and for most of the flight Dad and Ste entertained Leah by playing sherades and cards with her until she eventually fell asleep. She was soon joined by Ste, who was i guess pretty worn out with all the running around after his Kids.

I slyly observed Dad for a little while as he just sat staring at Ste with a massive dopey grin on his face. He was happy, that much was blatantly obvious. But I still wondered if this was something that would last or if Ste and my Dad were some phase he was going through. I mean to have me and Paraic that means my Dad definitely slept with my Ma at least twice. And if he was gay why would he even marry her in the first place. It didnt make any sense. And so I spent the rest of the flight wondering exactly what revalations this holiday would have instore, and if I was going to be stuck on babysitting duty while Dad and Ste were off being loved up.

_**Sorry complete shit I know, i think i changed writing style like ten times throughout but just had to get the idea out of my head. Please let me know what you think and if you would like me to continue. XX **_


	2. Chapter 2

Ste's Pov

Well it all seemed to be going well so far, no major kick offs from Brendan, infact he was being unbelieveably good, helping out with the kids and paying attention to me in public for once. I know it must have been hard for him, even I felt like some people were judging us when we boarded the plane with the looks that we got. I guess they're would always be people who would judge what they didnt understand.

Right now we were roughly twenty minutes away from landing and I'm just after being woken up by Leah who, surprise surprise, was getting incrediby hyper again leaning over me to try and get a look out the window and see Disneyland. I glanced over towards brendan and could see that he was still fast asleep with Lucas sleeping up against him. Declan however was wide awake and gave me a small smile as our eyes met. I smiled back. He was a great kid really, seemed really nice. He didnt seem to mind at all that his holiday with his Dad had been hijacked by me and my two screaming toddlers. I could see Brendan in him, in the small mannerisms which he had such as the twitchyness I was now observing. Like his father he seemed unable to just sit and be still in one place. Always had to have something to occupy himself with.

The landing was rather uneventful, apart from the fact Lucas basically tore the plane apart with his screams. I felt awful for him, obviously really felling the effects of the change in air pressure on his poor little ears. All I wanted to do was hold onto him and tell him it would be ok, but Leah was having a slightly different reaction. She was just terrified and clung to me for the entire descent. Besides I could see that Brendan and Declan were doing they're best to try and calm him down. Lucas had his arms wrapped around Brendans neck while crying on his shoulder. I could see Declan had reached across and was holding his hand in an effort to try and soothe him a little.

As soon as the plane came to a halt I jumped up out of my seat and Brendan handed Lucas over to me, he had stopped crying a bit but I could see he was still a little traumatised by the whole event.

" Thanks for looking after him" I said to both Brendan and Declan

They smiled in return and i turned my attention to my little man

" Heya, come on shhhh Lucas its ok now, weve landed. Were in Disneyland buddy" This seemed to cheer him up slightly and I could see the beginnings of a smile spreading across his little face.

In the arrivals lounge as we waited to collect the luggage I could definitely tell which people had been on our flight, they either walked past where I was sat with the kids, while Bren and Declan got the bags, with looks of pity or just sheer annoyance on their faces. I didnt really undertand the annoyed ones. They were on a flight to Florida, where Disneyland is what did they expect.

Declan returned to us pushing a trolley full of our cases and told us his Dad had gone off to sort the rental car and we were to wait outside for him. After what must have been at least 40 minutes Brendan eventually pulled up in front of us in what could only be described as the perfect american soccer moms car. Some sort of weird people carrier with an automatic sliding door and tvs in the headrests for the kids. We all piled in and set off for the hotel, or so I thought.

As I sat in the front I began to fiddle with the sat nav to try and enter the address of the hotel we would be staying at but my hand was quickly slapped away by Brendan

" What ya playing at" he asked.

" I was trying to put in the hotel address, make it a bit easier for you to get us there alive "

" About that..."

" Brendan, what have you done" I asked, I knew it would only be a matter of time before he pulled some kind of stunt.

" Well Stephen, I looked up that place you had booked yourself into and eh lets just say it was a complete dump. So I booked us in somewhere else "

" What Brendan, what did ya do that for? That place was the best I could afford"

I couldnt believe it, I know the place wasnt exactly great but it would have done. Its not exactly like we would have been spending all our time in the place.

" Look it doesnt matter, ill take what ya owe me out of your wages young stephen" He said with a huge smirk on his face.

" Ya will not, this is your treat Brendo. Thanks" I replied in my cheekiest voice.

If Declan were not in the car I would have leaned over and pecked him on the cheek or touched his hand briefly for a moment, but I found myself incredibly wary of doing anything which could be considered over "friendly". Not that I think Declan would have noticed, he had earphones in and was glued to his nintendo DS, not looking up from its small screen until the car came to a halt outside possibly the most magnificent house i'd ever seen. It was a smart little bungalow with a huge double car "garage" as they're called in America. It was painted a bright yellow and had huge bay windows. The garden was equally as beautiful with greenest grass i had ever seen and there was even a palm tree. I looked around at the kids and saw the look of awe on their faces. As i turned towards Brendan I knew that he would have that unmistakable smirk plastered on his face right now. But for once I had to hand it to him, he knew how to make a holiday.


	3. Chapter 3

The house was as amazing on the inside as it looked on the outside. It had a huge open plan kitchen and living area, 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and a disney themed play room for the kids. I hadn't ever really stayed somewhere that was so nice before. The kids were already running round the house, "exploring" as they liked to call it. Declan had made his way out into the back yard and was now sat with his earphones in played his nintendo, honestly the kid was never off of that thing. I heard the delighted giggles of the kids, tehy obviously had just found the disney room.

Then I heard a loud bang and in a gruff Irish accent " Fuck ".

" Ya all right Bren, wanna hand with the cases" I called out walking back out towards the car.

" No Stephen, of course not, I can handle the 14 cases you brought all by myself " God someone was in a mood.

" All right Bren, no need to be in a mood. Dont spoil it yeah? " I said while walking over to grab the 4 cases i did bring. Kids come with a lot of stuff.

" Sorry" he whispered before dragging his and Declans case into the house.

I followed him wheeling the kids suitcases into the bedroom which had the twin beds.

I then rolled my case into the living room, somewhat uncertain of what the sleeping arrangements would be, givin there were only two double rooms left. It seemed I wasnt the only person to have spotted this little problem.

" Dad, I am so not sharing a bed with you, I need my privacy like" I heard Declan saying to Brendan out on the patio.

" And what exactly do you need privacy for ya dirty thing ya"

" Eww, oh my god Dad, we are not talking about that"

I began laughing as I walked out onto the patio and saw the utter look of disgust etched on Declans face.

" Ahh Deccy dont be like that, Its natural isnt it Stephen?"

" Yeah, dont worry Declan, Your Dad has to do it himself all the time " I slyly replied. At least it made Declan crack a smile, however it did get me evils from Brendan.

" Look, fine you can have the double room to yourself, and ill just sleep on the couch or something " Brendan said trying to appease Declan.

What happened next felt really odd to me. It was like there was some sort of sub conversation going on. And only Declan knew what was being said.

" Well like, why dont you and Ste just share the bed, i always end up sharing a bed with some of my mates when we have a sleepover" He even seemed to have a little smirk on his face, and his smirk was the exact same as his fathers.

" Maybe" replied Brendan.

That night we had a proper nice barbeque out on the patio. The heat was unreal, but i think we were all slowly adjusting to it. We had spent most of the day just laszing by the pool trying to get over the jet lag. Lucas had an absolute ball in the pool with Declan and Brendan playing all sorts of games. I actually couldn't quite get over how much of a shine Lucas has taken to both Brendan and Declan. Even now he was sat between the two giggling away at something Declan had just told him. Leah and I had decided that we didnt wanna go swimming with the boys, she didnt much like water, and truth be told neither did I . So we stayed in the garden and played Disney Princess for much of the day. We had a lovely dinner all sitting round the table laughing and joking with one another. Declan was a great kid, so much like his father, Only he seemed to lack some of Brens more psycho tendencies.

Brendan even seemed super laid back. He seemed to really enjoy playing with the kids, and i knew he was absolutely loving having Declan around. Despite all his crazy he really is a great father. One of the many reasons I am so completely in love with him. Its been hard, being so close and happy without actually being able to even touch really. With Brendan not having told Declan about the two of us yet all we get is looks. But to be honest, I dont need to be all over him. A look like that from Brendan Brady is definitely worth it.

" Right kids, I think its time for baths and then you guys better go asleep. Need lots of energy for Mickey Mouse tomorrow" I said to Leah and Lucas.

" Yeah, you go do that and me and Declan will clean up out here"

I took the kids and led them into the bathroom that was adjacent to their bedroom. When the bath was ready i put the both of them in it and filled it up with loads of bubbles. They loved their baths did Leah and Lucas. We played about with the toys for a few minutes and eventually they decided that they wanted to get out so i wrapped each of them in towels and went to go get their pyjamas. I found Brendan sitting on the foot of one of the beds, suitcases open with the kids pyjamas in his lap.

" Thought you might need these"

" Thanks Bren, wanna give me a hand, Lucas would probably prefer if you did it" I joked

He smiled " Yeah, the brady charm obviously works on the little man. Your kids are great Stephen, You should be really proud"

" Aww cheers Brendan" I said as i leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips that turned into a full blown tongues and everything kiss.

" You should be dead proud too " I whispered as I pulled away " Declans such a nice kid"

We dressed the kids and I carried Leah to bed while Brendan carried Lucas and we tucked each of them in with their teddy bears and I kissed each of them on the forehead.

" Night kids, Love you" I whispered just before turning off the light.

" Love you too Daddy, And you uncle brendan" They both said in unison.

I turned to Bren with the bigget smile on my face, something which was mirrored on his own.

" And I love ya's too. Night" he said and gently closed over their bedroom door.

Declan and Brendan sat on the sofa, eating up the american tv, while I unpacked my stuff in my room. I can't really get over the past 48 hours. I went from hating Brendan in England to having possibly the best day of my life with him and his son, in America. I was almost so lost in thought I didnt hear the small knock on my door.

" Come in"

" Hey, Ste, Just wanted to let ya know im heading to bed now. Pretty tired ya know.

" Yeah ok Declan. Have a good sleep yeah"

" I will, eh thanks by the way, for you know letting me and Dad gate crash your holiday"

" Its fine Declan, Im really glad you too came, give me someone to talk to besides the kids"

" Yeah bet that would have been bad alright. But still thanks, its pretty nice of ya, you and Dad seem like real good friends"

" Yeah, yeah I suppose we are" I replied smiling.

" Thats good, he doesnt really have many friends, and you seem like a good one" He said " Well night Ste" and he left the room.

Almost immediately after Decland left Brendan entered the bedroom. He strolled casually over to the armchair in the corner of the room and sat down and began watching me as I continued with the unpacking.

After maybe ten minutes of silence he spoke " So did I surprise ya Stephen?"

I laughed at that, he did surprise me. When he said he would come away with me in the middle of hollyoaks village, i thought it was just anther one of his desperate lies. I walked over towards him and sat down in his lap.

" Completely" I said smiling up at him.

" Good, Good. Thats good"

" So, what did you think about Declans idea of us sharing a bed"

" Well, I think if my soon can sleep in the same bed as his mates, why cant I" And with that he stoop up lifting me in his arms and carried me over to the bed where he threw me down and then got on top of me.


End file.
